Clothing, accessories and specialty items geared toward cancer patients are displayed and sold at The Pink Bicycle, a new boutique at Grand Pacific Junction in Olmsted Falls.

Grand Pacific Junction in Olmsted Falls has a new specialty shop, The Pink Bicycle, which aims to be a one-stop shopping center for cancer patients and their caregivers.

Sept. 9 was the “cold opening” for the boutique. Among the items offered are designer headwear and scarves, non-abrasive soaps and body washes, pink camouflage backpacks, handheld electric fans and books of encouragement for survivors and family. Shop owner Shelley Williams said she wanted the store’s wares to be practical, but light and quirky.

Williams has sold local real estate for the last 23 years. She said that her idea for a shop had been developing since the first week after her cancer diagnosis last July. She was also motivated by the recent loss of her mother, Carol Williams.

“I’ve been in treatment for a year. My mother passed from cancer a few years before that. It’s a journey of the heart,” Williams said. “I wanted to give back, and have a place people can come to.”

She had seen online shopping centers for cancer patient needs, but was not aware of any brick and mortar shops offering the same services and operating locally. Looking for a location, she saw that a storefront was available in Grand Pacific Junction, which is owned and developed by her father, Clint Williams.

“I thought it was a wonderful idea, with what she’s been through and her mother,” said the elder Williams. “She had a lot of support. There’s a big demand for this stuff, and it’s getting bigger all the time.”

Though Williams is still furnishing the store, when it is finished it will feature a “wigged apartment,” a backroom model home inhabited by manikins displaying various styles of wigs in lived-in situations. Behind this, a changing room will afford shoppers the ability to try on hairpieces in privacy. The full wig shop is expected to be open by next month.

The finished shop will also include “Carol’s Corner,” a memorial to Williams’ mother, which will showcase items decorated with her favorite motifs, ladybugs and angels.

“These things gave her comfort, and I tracked them down to offer comfort to someone else,” Williams said.

Though right now Williams is technically the store’s only employee, she has received help from volunteers for tasks such as pricing items and arranging displays. Todd Stuart, a Realtor since 2001, said he had not worked in retail since a three-month stint at Lazarus department store in college, but he was compelled by friendship to help.

“It’s definitely a labor of love. I’m volunteering to help get things going,” Stuart said. “I wanted to help Shelley as much as I can.”

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